Can Carter open eyes of Americans?
Friday, April 18, 2008
THE Gaza Strip is bracing for more violence after Israel "reciprocated" with ground and air attacks killing 18 Palestinians, one a cameraman for an international news agency, for the killing of three Israeli soldiers by Hamas fighters on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Hamas bears "direct responsibility" for the fighting. Israel has reportedly threatened to launch a widescale operation to oust Hamas from the Gaza Strip but local media have speculated that it may wait until after the Jewish Passover holiday, which begins tomorrow.
This has been the scenario played over and over from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and was recently reprimanded by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for Israel's use of "disproportionate force" under the guise of self defence.
Disproportionate force does only apply to the battlefield. In an effort put the facts before the American people in the face of overwhelming propaganda by the Zionist lobby, "If Americans Knew" came out with "nine little known facts" last updated on March 13, 2008. According to its publication, since September 29, 2000 (the beginning the second Intifada).
119 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 982 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis.
1,033 Israelis and at least 4,604 Palestinians have been killed.
32,213 Palestinians and 6,845 Israelis have been injured.
During fiscal year 2007, the US gave more than US$6.8 million ($9.3 million) per day to Israel and US$0.3 million per day to the Palestinians.
Israel has been targeted by at least 65 UN resolutions and the Palestinians have been targeted by none.
One Israeli is being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 10,756 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel.
Zero Israeli homes have been demolished by Palestinians and 18,147 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel (since 1967).
The Israeli unemployment rate is nine per cent, while the Palestinian unemployment rate is estimated at 40 per cent (much worse than during the great depression in the US.)
Israel currently has 223 Jewish-only settlements and outposts built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land. Construction is still going on.
The State of Palestine, which the PLO declared in 1988 is an entity recognised by over 100 countries. However the boundaries of this state have yet to be determined and are continually shrinking in face of ongoing Israeli encroachment and settlement construction reducing Palestine to nothing more than ghetto-like enclaves in an ever-expanding Israel. Moreover to add salt to a growing and festering wound, Europe and the United States have ignored the PLO declaration.
Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre on Peace and Liberty says in a publication of The Independent Institute that some US commissioners wanted to cover up the link between the 9/11 attack and US support for Israel because this might imply that the United States should alter policy and lessen its support for Israeli actions." How right they were. The question is simple: if the vast bulk of Americans would be safer if US politicians moderated their slavish support of Israel, designed to win the support of key pressure groups at home, wouldn't it be a good idea to make this change in course? Average US citizens might attenuate their support for Israel if the link between the 9/11 attacks and unquestioning US favouritism for Israeli excesses were more widely known."
Meanwhile, former US president Jimmy Carter, the 83-year-old former president and Nobel Peace laureate is meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, whom Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas sacked last year from his post of prime minister, in Cairo as well as exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus today. Israel has strong objections to this and US presidential candidates are also critical, fearing a backlash from the all-powerful Israel lobby. They seem to have become overwhelmed by their country's own propaganda, more so than in the case of the illegal attack on Iraq in 2003. However, unless Carter, the man of conscience, can pull the wool out of the eyes of Americans we are likely to see more bloodshed from Israel's overwhelming use of disproportionate force against Palestinians. And where will it end?
This has been the scenario played over and over from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and was recently reprimanded by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon for Israel's use of "disproportionate force" under the guise of self defence.
Disproportionate force does only apply to the battlefield. In an effort put the facts before the American people in the face of overwhelming propaganda by the Zionist lobby, "If Americans Knew" came out with "nine little known facts" last updated on March 13, 2008. According to its publication, since September 29, 2000 (the beginning the second Intifada).
119 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 982 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis.
1,033 Israelis and at least 4,604 Palestinians have been killed.
32,213 Palestinians and 6,845 Israelis have been injured.
During fiscal year 2007, the US gave more than US$6.8 million ($9.3 million) per day to Israel and US$0.3 million per day to the Palestinians.
Israel has been targeted by at least 65 UN resolutions and the Palestinians have been targeted by none.
One Israeli is being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 10,756 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel.
Zero Israeli homes have been demolished by Palestinians and 18,147 Palestinian homes have been demolished by Israel (since 1967).
The Israeli unemployment rate is nine per cent, while the Palestinian unemployment rate is estimated at 40 per cent (much worse than during the great depression in the US.)
Israel currently has 223 Jewish-only settlements and outposts built on confiscated Palestinian land. Palestinians do not have any settlements on Israeli land. Construction is still going on.
The State of Palestine, which the PLO declared in 1988 is an entity recognised by over 100 countries. However the boundaries of this state have yet to be determined and are continually shrinking in face of ongoing Israeli encroachment and settlement construction reducing Palestine to nothing more than ghetto-like enclaves in an ever-expanding Israel. Moreover to add salt to a growing and festering wound, Europe and the United States have ignored the PLO declaration.
Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre on Peace and Liberty says in a publication of The Independent Institute that some US commissioners wanted to cover up the link between the 9/11 attack and US support for Israel because this might imply that the United States should alter policy and lessen its support for Israeli actions." How right they were. The question is simple: if the vast bulk of Americans would be safer if US politicians moderated their slavish support of Israel, designed to win the support of key pressure groups at home, wouldn't it be a good idea to make this change in course? Average US citizens might attenuate their support for Israel if the link between the 9/11 attacks and unquestioning US favouritism for Israeli excesses were more widely known."
Meanwhile, former US president Jimmy Carter, the 83-year-old former president and Nobel Peace laureate is meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, whom Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas sacked last year from his post of prime minister, in Cairo as well as exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus today. Israel has strong objections to this and US presidential candidates are also critical, fearing a backlash from the all-powerful Israel lobby. They seem to have become overwhelmed by their country's own propaganda, more so than in the case of the illegal attack on Iraq in 2003. However, unless Carter, the man of conscience, can pull the wool out of the eyes of Americans we are likely to see more bloodshed from Israel's overwhelming use of disproportionate force against Palestinians. And where will it end?
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